groupwork draft¶
- Characterise the laser’s focus, power, speed, rate, kerf, joint clearance and types
Characterise FabLab Kamakura’s laser cutter¶
Laser Cutter at FabLab Kamakura
- Model: Trotec Speedy 100, 30watt CO2 laser cutter- Work area: 610 x 305 mm (24 x 12 inch)
- Maximum material thickness:
- 170 mm (6.7 inch) with 1.5 inch lens
- 157 mm (6.2 inch) with 2.0 inch lens
- 144 mm (5.7 inch) with 2.5 inch lens
- Settings:
- Vector: Power: / Speed: / Frequency
- Rastor: Power: / Speed: / Frequency
Preparing the data¶
On the laser cutter’s software (which in FabLab Kamakura is is CorelDRAW), we created a shape for testing the laser cutter.
Thickness of the line should be less than 0.003mm
We exported it
file → print → Select "Trotec Speedy" → print
- Minimise to job size
- Select “Start from internal geometry” - this prevents material from shifting,
Laser cutting¶
- Turn on the machine, and wait for it to calibrate.
- Place material inside (laser starts from top left).
- Focus the laser
This is done with a laser focusing tool.
Raise the bed using the Z axis control button until it touches the tool, at which point the tool will drop from the groove. - Laser to the origin point - by using the machine control pad to move the effector along X and Y asis. Or align the shape to the Laser location.
- Turn on the fan
- Import your data
- Change the settings of your laser
- Speed (milimeters per second)
- Maximum power (Percentage of 100%)
- Minimum power
Refers to the templates next to the printer in FabLab Kamakura - Close the lid
- Press start
※ Do not leave the laser-cutter machine during the printing process!!
※ When printing, don’t look at the Laser light !
※ In case of some emergency, press the Stop button.
- Once the cutting is finished, turn the laser off, wait a little, and open the lid to see the final result.
Result:¶
| Test | Power | Speed | Frequency | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test1 |
Press-fit test¶
Our mission for this task is to identify the optimal offset value to account for the kerf.
What is a kerf?¶
- It’s the small width of material removed by a laser beam when cutting. They are typically 0.8-1mm
- It’s important to account for kerf width, as it can affect the fit of the final design (Good joints typically require 5mm). It also can help reduce waste and material costs.
- Some of the factors that affect kerf width are Laser type, the material, cutting settings, etc.
- making@stanford
Since the material we will use for this week’s individual assignment is cardboard, we will find the optimal offset value for cardboard for the Trotec 100 in Kamakura.
Preparing the data¶
We used this tool(developed by Mr. Daisuke Doyo in Fab Academy 2018) to create the test comb image data for testing.
We measured the thickness of our material to be 3mm, soe set the test to check from 2.4mm to 3.0mm, at 0.01mm intervals.
Laser Cutting¶
The above data was exported as svg file and imported into the printer.
We used the results of above test for our cutting parameter, which is;
Power = x , Speed =
Results¶
We assembled the parts to test the kerf and here are the results:
The verict: